SPOC (Small Private Online Course)-infused flipped classroom: a promising approach to address knowledge lag and practice gaps in infectious diseases teaching.

Objective: This study aimed to design and implement a "SPOC (Small Private Online Course) + flipped classroom" teaching model for Infectious Diseases, and to evaluate its effectiveness in improving students' academic performance, clinical practical ability, and teaching satisfaction, so as to provide a scientific practical reference for the teaching reform of Infectious Diseases. Methods: A total of 361 five-year clinical medicine students (2018 and 2019 grades) from Chongqing Medical University were selected as the research objects. They were randomly divided into an experimental group (n = 61) receiving SPOC-blended flipped classroom teaching and a control group (n = 300) receiving traditional Lecture-Based Learning (LBL) teaching. There were no significant differences in baseline data between the two groups (P > 0.05), indicating comparability. The two groups had the same teaching content, teaching hours, and teaching staff. After the course, the academic performance [final theoretical examination and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)] and teaching satisfaction of the two groups were compared. Results: The scores of the final theoretical examination (81.7 ± 6.64 vs. 77.2 ± 6.13, P < 0.001) and OSCE (83.8 ± 4.53 vs. 79.9 ± 6.29, P < 0.001) in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group. In terms of teaching satisfaction, the scores of the experimental group in all dimensions, including "practicality of teaching content" (4.4 ± 0.5 vs. 3.1 ± 0.6, P < 0.001), "attractiveness of teaching methods" (4.6 ± 0.4 vs. 3.0 ± 0.7, P < 0.001), "effect of ability improvement" (4.5 ± 0.5 vs. 3.2 ± 0.6, P < 0.001), and the total score (4.5 ± 0.4 vs. 3.2 ± 0.6, P < 0.001), were significantly higher than those in the control group. Conclusion: The "SPOC + flipped classroom" teaching model can effectively improve the academic performance, clinical practical ability, and teaching satisfaction of clinical medicine students in Infectious Diseases learning. It provides a feasible practical path for the teaching reform of Infectious Diseases and a replicable paradigm for mixed teaching in other medical courses.